NCAA: ALL WELL IN HOUSE OF FRASER
Great Britain Under-20 forward Alasdair Fraser put up a career-high 25 points as his Maine team opened their conference season with a victory over Binghamton.
The Bearcats had no answer for Fraser inside as he bullied his way to 11-17 shooting and also grabbed eight rebounds.
The Falkirk-born sophomore could have had an even bigger night had he not been limited to 25 minutes by foul trouble. Earlier in the week, Fraser contributed eight points and five rebounds in 18 minutes against Florida Gulf Coast.
Ovie Soko also put in a monster performance this week, scoring 17 points and grabbing a career-high 15 rebounds in a blowout of Alabama A&M. Seven of those points came from the free throw line.
It was a great bounceback performance from Soko, who had fouled out after playing just 16 minutes against George Washington in UAB’s previous game. The 6-8 forward finished with three points, three assists and no rebounds against GW.
UALR got their conference season off to a 2-0 start thanks to big contributions from Will Neighbour. The sophomore big man recorded his second double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds against North Texas. Neighbour didn’t shoot the ball all that well (5-13) but he made up for it with eight trips to the free throw line.
Neighbour followed that with 17 points, six rebounds and two blocks in a victory over Denver. The two displays earned him the Sun Belt Conference basketball player of the week award.
Alex Marcotullio’s Northwestern team also opened conference play, losing big to the No. 2 in the country, Ohio State. Marcotullio played only seven minutes and scored three points in the loss, but was back to playing a bigger role in the next game against Penn State, scoring six points and dishing two assists in 20 minutes.
Ben Mockford had a big scoring night on New Year’s Eve, hitting 17 points in a loss to Army. He scored seven and added three rebounds in St Francis’ other game this week, a win over Brown.
Shane Walker put in a typically solid performance in a win over Bucknell, recording 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. Walker’s biggest problem this season has been staying on the floor, as this was the third straight game in which he was limited to 25 minutes or less by foul trouble.
Another Brit who picked up too many fouls this week was South Carolina State’s Joe Ikhinmwin. The 6-6 forward played just 17 minutes against Hawaii before fouling out. He contributed four points and two rebounds in his time on the court.
Andrew Lawrence had one of his weakest performances of the year on Friday as his Charleston Cougars lost to George Mason. Lawrence was 1-6 from the field and had five turnovers, though he did manage six assists and got to the line enough to finish with seven points.
After spending most of the season warming the bench, Aaron Geramipoor has seen a recent uptick in his minutes. The former Manchester Magic big man played a career-high 21 minutes as Seton Hall beat West Virginia on Friday. Geramipoor contributed four points and a rebound. Earlier in the week, he played 13 minutes in a loss to No. 1 Syracuse, scoring three points and grabbing five boards.
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